'Good fun' for Arshdeep with eye on the plan as he clenches man of the match trophy

India had set out with a plan to stop Shai Hope during the third T20I on Sunday. Arshdeep Singh played his role to perfection dismissing the West Indies captain in the second over.

Arshdeep took two more wickets to finish with 3/44 and bag the Man of the Match award. He also claimed Sherfane Rutherford just when he was threatening to take the match away from the hosts.

Hope has been in sensational form in the white-ball series, scoring back-to-back centuries in the 50-over format before producing a half-century in the opening T20I and an unbeaten 102 in the second. But in Indore the Windies captain managed just five.

“Before the match, we had planned how to keep things tight to him and when you execute that plan in the match, it feels good when you get the result. I am grateful to the coaches for working through the plan and they told me that I can use this in the match and that thing got executed,” Arshdeep said in a video posted on bcci.tv on Monday.

“I bowled very well. Mayank kept the pressure from the other end and all the six bowlers, all chipped in and bowled very well. It feels good when you get a little pressure for executing plans. So, it was good fun,” he said.

India’s bowlers have been at the receiving end in both the ODIs and the T20Is in batting-friendly conditions. Their plight even forced head coach Gautam Gambhir to say such wickets were enough to spoil the careers of the bowlers.

Arshdeep also contributed with the bat, scoring 11 which included a towering six. But some miscommunication in the middle with Axar Patel cost the all-rounder his wicket, something that the left-arm pacer later apologised for.

“If we talk about batting, then the first thing I would like to say is ‘sorry to Axarbhai … I got you run out’. In batting, I keep trying but results are few and far between. The ball connected well and (went for a six). With the amount of trust the coaches show in us, we need to deliver in batting as well and score a few runs down the order. That is why working on batting is important,” Arshdeep said.

India, leading the T20I series 2-1, go into the fourth match in Hyderabad
on Wednesday.